Pages

Monday, 6 August 2018

YouTube, Facebook and iTunes drop InfoWars

Apple has removed hundreds of podcasts by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his InfoWars brand from its iTunes and Podcasts apps.

It said in a statement that it "does not tolerate hate speech".

On Monday, Facebook removed the InfoWars page on its platform for "using hate speech", and Alex Jones' channel on YouTube was "terminated".

In a livestream on Twitter, Mr Jones said InfoWars had become the "most censored" channel on Earth.

Spotify also told the BBC that it had removed The Alex Jones Show from its podcast listings on Monday.

It said in a statement: "We take reports of hate content seriously.

"Due to repeated violations of Spotify's prohibited content policies, The Alex Jones Show has lost access to the Spotify platform."

'Conspiracy theories'

Mr Jones has been widely criticised for repeating conspiracy theories that the 9/11 attacks in New York were staged by the US government.

He has also claimed that many of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre were actors. The parents of two children shot in that attack are suing him for defamation, saying he had made "false, cruel, and dangerous assertions".

While Apple did not host the InfoWars podcasts on its own servers, its iTunes and Podcasts apps made the programmes easily accessible to millions of people.

Five of the six InfoWars-related shows are no longer available on iTunes, with all episodes removed.

Apple no longer links to series such as The Alex Jones Podcast and War Room in its apps. However, the Real News series remains on iTunes.